Hard to say Shred. In that situation, I know sure as shit I wouldn't expose the whole party to the hangfire threat. One person, quick search to see if you can get a hit, probably. You would want minimal people out there.

This scenario is most definitely the most nightmarish I can think of. You have a group that (hopefully) is equipped for a rescue, but it may not be safe to do so. Getting more people buried does not help.

All accounts were that this one was a fairly large slide. The official report is going to be an interesting read.

Seems like Purcell is pretty dangerous. Didn't the rk heli death happen in the same range?

Yeah, sounds like that one happened near Jumbo glacier. They do seem to get a different snow than we do from Lake Louise east. Every time I look at the forecasts, average temps on that side of the rockies are 5+ deg higher. That's got to have an effect on the snow (both falling snow and the snowpack)...

Any range with avalanche terrain is dangerous. Coastal mountains, Purcells, Rockies, you name it. If it's steep enough to ride it's steep enough to slide.

Glancing through some Canadian accident history. The Banff area seems to have the Lion's share of the accidents. I do believe that is or more of a continental style snow pack so it would make sense. Purcells don't stand out as a unusually dangerous spot at a glance.

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